List of terms used for Germans: Map

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There are many alternative ways to describe the people of Germany

, though in English the official designated nationality as well as the standard noun is German. (see also demonym). During the early Renaissance, "German" implied that the person spoke German as a native language. Until German unification, people living in what is now Germany were named for the region they lived in, examples include Frisians, Bavarians

, Brandenburgers

and Hanoverians. Some other terms are humorous or derogatory slang, and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by German people themselves. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to coin words as alternatives to the ambiguous standard terms.

English

Dutch (obsolete)

Dutch, Deitsch and Dietsch come from English language transfigurations of the German word Deutsch, which literally means German in German.

The meaning was general and could refer to any Germanic-speaking area, the language, customs or people from there. For example:

in four books containing the Chronography and History of the whole world, Vol. II (London, 1677: 154) contains "...the Dutch call Leibnitz," adding that Dutch is spoken in the parts of Hungary adjoining to Germany.

To this day, descendants of German immigrants who resettled in Pennsylvania continue to refer to themselves as Pennsylvania Dutch. They may identify themselves as being Pennsylvania German, too. Some may or may not be members of the plain sects found in southeastern Pennsylvania, which includes the Amish.

Today, the word Dutch is most commonly used to refer to the people of the Netherlands or their Dutch language, which also belongs to the Germanic family of languages.

Almain (obsolete/poetical)

Almain is a historical term for Germans (often specifically the ones living in the South of Germany) borrowed from French and ultimately comes from the Latin name for the Germanic tribe of the Alamanni. It was used alongside "Dutch" but unlike Dutch had a more limited meaning. It fell out of use when "German" was introduced but remained a poetical term (like Teuton) for quite a while.

Hun (offensive)

Hun (or The Hun) is a derogatory term used by the Americans

to call Germans

Huns, in reference to the late Hunnic Empire. The Hun saw most of its usage during World War I and was often seen on American propaganda posters.The origin of the term can be traced back to the infamous "Hunnen-Rede" of Emperor Wilhelm II on the 27th of July 1900, when he bade farewell to the German expeditionary corps to defeat the Boxer Uprising. The relevant part of the speech was:

"Kommt ihr vor den Feind, so wird derselbe geschlagen! Pardon wird nicht gegeben! Gefangene werden nicht gemacht! Wer euch in die Hände fällt, sei euch verfallen! Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in Überlieferung und Märchen gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutscher in China auf 1000 Jahre durch euch in einer Weise bestätigt werden, daß es niemals wieder ein Chinese wagt, einen Deutschen scheel anzusehen!"

Trans: "When you meet the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! No prisoners will be taken! Those who fall in your hands are forfeit to you! As a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Etzel (poetic form of Attila) had made a name for themselves that make them appear awe-inspiring in tradition and myth, so shall the name German will have been made in China through you for a 1000 years, so that never again a Chinese will dare to look askance at a German."

This bloody-minded rant was taken up immediately by the British press in the subsequent years of mutual distrust and became a propaganda word from the first World War on.

According to Brophy , "Hun," (usually "The Hun"), a journalistic creation, was used almost exclusively by officers, as was the borrowed French "Boche."

Fritz (offensive)

British

soldiers employed a variety of epithets for the Germans. "Fritz" was popular early in the war , with "Jerry" favoured later.

Heinie/Hynee (offensive)

The Americans and Canadians

referred to Germans, especially German soldiers as "Heinies", from the pet form of the common German male proper name Heinrich.

In the film 1941 the Slim Pickens character calls a German Officer "Mr. Hynee Kraut!"

Heini is actually a common German slang word with a slight derogatory meaning similar to moron or idiot, but it could be of different origin.

Jerry (offensive)

Jerry was a nickname given to Germans during the Second World War by soldiers and civilians of the Allied nations, in particular by the British. Although the nickname was originally created during World War I, it didn't find common use until World War II.

Jerry has analogues from different eras in Tommy (British), Charlie (Vietnam—"Victor Charlie" for VC (Viet Cong), later shortened to just "Charlie"), Sammy (Somalia), and Ivan (Russians).

The name is likely an alteration of the word German. Others have claimed that the World War I German helmet, shaped like a chamber pot or jeroboam, was the initial impetus for creation, although this is almost certainly revisionist history . One ongoing use of "jerry" is found in the term jerrycan.

After World War II, settlements and camps sprang up around British garrisons in the former West Germany, and the colloquial term of "Boxhead" became common amongst British troops and their families. This term has its origins in "square-heads" as a reference to the square-shaped helmets used by the Germans in the First and Second World Wars.

Recently the term "Eric" has become popular amongst British troops, apparently originating in an episode of the British TV comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, in which the name "Eric" was used instead of "Jerry" in an attempt to confuse the Germans.

Kraut (offensive)

Since World War II, Kraut has, in the English language, come to be used as a derogatory term for a German. This is probably based on sauerkraut, which was very popular in German cuisine at that time. The stereotype of the sauerkraut-eating German pre-dates this, as it appears in Jules Verne's depiction of the evil German industrialist Schultze as an avid sauerkraut eater in "The Begum's Millions."

One possible explanation of the origin of this term is this:Raw sauerkraut is an excellent source of vitamin C. Captain James Cook always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective remedy against scurvy. Later, on British ships, sauerkraut was replaced by lime juice (for the same purpose). German sailors continued with the use of kraut, calling their British colleagues "limies" and being themselves called "krauts."

The rock music genre krautrock has been commonplace in music journalism since the early 1970s and is of English invention.

Nazi (derogatory and offensive)

The nickname of the National Socialist political party that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. Used as a derogatory term for Germans in general or for people/items originating from Germany; for example, referring to a German made automobile as a "Nazi-mobile". It is also used for non-German peoples who act in an authoritarian manner such as the "Soup Nazi" in the Seinfeld show.

Teuton (poetic)

In a more poetical sense Germans can be referred to as "Teutons". The usage of the word in this term has been observed in English since 1833. The word originated via an ancient Germanic tribe, the Teutons. - see also teutonic and the Teutonic Order.

Boche (derogatory)

Term used in World War I, often collectively ("the Boche" meaning "the Germans"). From French slang alboche, from Allemand ("German") and caboche ("head" or "cabbage"). Also spelled "Bosch" or "Bosche".

Other countries

Austria

Piefke (offensive)

The Austrian ethnophaulism for a German is Piefke. Like its Bavarian counterpart Saupreiß (literally: sow-Prussian) the term Piefke historically characterized the people of Prussia only. Its exact origin is unclear, but it was meant to be derogatory most notably because of the term's Polish roots: Referring to every Prussian as Piefke, which is a typical example of a Germanized Polish family name (Piwka), suggested that all Prussians were merely Germanized Poles. The term increased in usage during the 19th century because of the popularity of the Prussian composer Johann Gottfried Piefke. Since Prussia and its eastern territories ceased to exist, the term now refers to the cliché of a pompous (Protestant northern) German in general and a Berliner

in particular. However, the citizens of the free Hanseatic cities and the former northern duchies of Oldenburg, Brunswick and Mecklenburg are quite offended by the terms Piefke and Saupreiß (offense for every German who is not native Bavarian), since they take some pride in having staunchly resisted Prussian expansionism as independent (federal) states and have no Prussian history at all. In 1990, Austrian playwright Felix Mitterer wrote and co-directed a TV mini-series, Die Piefke-Saga, about Germans on holiday in Tyrol. Sometimes the alteration "Piefkineser" is used, or "Marmeladinger".

Belgium

Mof (offensive)

(see below: Netherlands

)

Oosterbuur (friendly)

In the Dutch language the word "Oosterbuur" (Eastern neighbour) nearly always refers to the German people or Germany itself as Germany

and the Germans are located to the East of the Netherlands

and Belgium

. Similarly, the Flemish refer to the Dutch as "Noorderburen" (Northern Neighbours) and the Dutch use "Zuiderburen" (Southern neighbours) for the Belgians

Boche (offensive)

Used in the Walloon region, see "France".

Prüss (offensive)

This term is used by the "German" (Luxembourgish,Limburgish and Ripuarian) speaking population in Belgium. Like "Preiss" in Luxembourg, it refers to the Prussians - the Belgian East Cantons were originally part of the Duchies of Limburg and Luxembourg, Archbishopric of Trier and Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmédy. After being occupied by France in 1795, the territory was annexed by Prussia. The Prussians started Germanizing the area (Malmédy was French speaking) and the population was urged to use Standard German. When the Nazis invaded Belgium in 1940, the majority of the German speaking population welcomed them, as in Austria, but after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the attitude towards the Germans made a 180° turn - the male population of the German speaking region had been drafted by the Nazis - not voluntarily. They had been used as cannon fodder by the Nazis and half of the drafted men had been killed or were missing. The term "Prüss" was used after World War II and is still in use today as an insulting term for a German.

Croatia

Švabe (friendly)

from Swabian—see Danube Swabians for more. The word also applies to, and is often adopted as a nickname by Croatian Gastarbeiters.Strangely, the normal word for an ethnic German, or a German citizen, Njemac, originally means "one who can't speak" ("nijem" means "mute"), but, it is not a slur at all, it's just a normal word, the only one, for an ethnic German/German citizen. Meanwhile, Švabo should be an ethnonym (and, in fact, the most of German speaking people the Croats and Serbs historically have had close contacts with had indeed been of Swabian origin).

Czech Republic

Němec (official term)

From the Slavic etymology, meaning "mute".

Skopčák (colloquialism)

Originally meaning "the one who came from the hills". In medieval times, German inhabitants in Czech-German borderlands often lived in hilly, mountainous areas, and when they came to lowland Czech towns to buy and sell their wares, they were addressed as "those who came down from hills". "From hills" is "s kopců" in Czech, thus "skopčáci" (plural).When English language books and movies concerning World War II are translated to Czech, "Skopčák" is often used to translate "Jerry" or "Kraut".

Estonia

Frits (colloquialism)

From the German name "Friedrich", it has been used for German soldiers. It is considered as colloquial, not very polite, but not offensive either.

Saks (historical, sometimes offensive)

Similar to the word sakslane ("German"), it was originally used for Germans, Saxons more precisely, but was later mostly used for German nobility in Estonia. Since then it has been offensively used for ethnic Estonian nobility. It is still sometimes used for Germans.

France

Boches (offensive, historical, associated with Nazis)

Apheresis of the word Alboche, from Allemoche, slang for Allemand (German) since the end of the 19th century. Used mainly during the First and Second World Wars, directed mainly at the invading German soldiers.

Fritz (offensive, historical)

From the German Christian name, used since World War I.Frisés and Fridolins are variations of Fritz.

Doryphores (offensive, historical)

Doryphore means Colorado potato beetle in French. This term was used during World War II, but is less common than Boche, Fritz or Frisés. It refers to the fact that the Germans during the Occupation took large part of the production of France's agriculture and industry.

Chleuh (slightly offensive)

From the name of the Chleuh, a North African ethnicity - a term with racial connotations. It also denotes the absence of words beginning in Schl- in French. It was used mainly in World War II (for example, in the film Inglourious Basterds) but is also used now in a less offensive way like in the film Taxi.

Teutons

Relative to the Teutons and is still used occasionally in a non-official way, to designate Germans. In the standard High German language Teutsch is an archaic way of rendering Deutsch, with the same meaning (often translated as "Teutonic"). The element Teuto- is still used in modern German for place-names such as the Teutoburg Forest

Finland

Fritz, Fritsi (colloquialism)

From the first name Friedrich. This name is considered as colloquial, not very polite, but not offensive either

Hunni (derogatory)

Literally Hun. Extremely derogatory, containing allusions to Lapland War and sack of Lapland

Niksmanni (offensive)

From German language negative word nichts/nix (nothing) and -manni for "man".

Saku, Saksmanni, Sakemanni (inoffensive)

From the Finnish word Saksa, meaning Germany

(originally Saxony

). Saku Is a Finnish male name; Saksmanni is a combination of "Saksa + -manni, referring to "man".

Italy

Tedesco (official)

As in Italian there is quite a difference between "Germany"(Germania) And "German"(tedesco) : this is the neutral way used in either polite and official uses.

Crucco (offensive)

The common (especially Northern) Italian ethnopaulism for a German is crucco, which roughly translates as pighead. Etymologically, the term most likely derives from the Croatian word kruh, which means bread, because Austria-Hungary sent people of Croatian descent to garrison its Italian dominions. In World War II Italian soldiers originally referred to the Yugoslavian combatants as crucchi and the North-Eastern war zone was dubbed terra crucca. In the course of the war the term underwent a shift of meaning: During the German invasion the Italian partisans called the German soldiers crucchi. Today it's a disrespectful way to address people from all German speaking regions in general (cruccolandia), even the German-speaking population of the province of Bolzano-Bozen, who are themselves Italian citizens.

Tetesken (colloquialism)

It is simply the Italian word for "German"(Tedesco), purposefully corrupted in a comic way by pseudo-German stylization. Even if not really rude, it isn't considered a polite thing to say in front of a German, because it derides German "harsh-sounding" pronunciation, and implies a low knowledge of Italian language.

Mangiapatate (offensive)

Translated as potato eaters, this slightly offensive term refers to the alleged German habit of eating potatoes at every meal. It is not in current usage with ordinary people but is sometimes used in dubbed feature films as a translation for "Krauts".

Mangiacrauti (offensive)

Literally "kraut eater(s)", sometimes use even with "wurstel", because of the cliché of the "kraut-and-wurstel-eater beer-drinker German"

Kartoffeln

It refers to their, supposed, eating habit/cuisine. It comes from the German word for potatoes (Kartoffeln).

Teutonici

Every so often used in the emphatic slang of the football commentaries: la squadra teutonica (as the German team), i giocatori teutonici or i teutonici (as the German players). Although not exactly derogatory (many nations are jocularly identified in Italy with their ancestors), it conveys some unwelcome associations because as an adjective, "teutonico" defines rigid, pernickety, inflexible attitudes.

Teutoni

Only used in old-fashioned poetic language. It is the Italian adjective for "Teutons", a Germanic tribe, but it's also used to describe all the German population.

Fritsch

All Germans (Austria Switzerland etc.)

Germani

More used as adjective, doesn't mean "German", but "Germanic" (either historic and meliorative), similar to other expressions like "Italic", "Gallic", etc.(sometimes hironical about fascist retorical propaganda, in which "Germanico"(Germanic) was preferred to "Tedesco"(German))

Luxembourg

Preiss (offensive)

Derived from the local name for Prussian. Used to describe any German since the establishment of a Prussian Garrison in Fortress Luxembourg in 1815. Still commonly used today but most popular with World War II survivors.

Macedonia

Švaba (offensive)

Švaba ( ) (plural Švabi; ), from Swabian.